A younger Gazan artist identified for her hauntingly lovely portraits of individuals killed by the Israel Protection Forces (IDF) was herself killed on 12 April by an Israeli airstrike, based on Quds Information Community. Dina Khaled Zaurub reportedly died when the strike, on a displaced individuals camp situated west of Khan Yunis in Southern Gaza, hit the tent the place she and her household had taken shelter. She was 22-years-old.
Tributes to the artist poured in from world wide. Considered one of her followers in Tunisia wrote on Fb: “The artist Dina Zaurub who painted the martyrs of their honour and reminiscence joined them in the present day.”
The artist gained the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights Award in 2015 for the very best drawing about childrens’ rights throughout armed battle. She was later recognised by the Palestinian ministry of training and the United Nations Reduction and Works Company for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) for her work. The Palestinian ministry of tradition issued an announcement mourning the lack of “a gifted younger girl whose artwork stored reminiscence alive in a time of relentless erasure.”
Zaurub specialised in portraiture, and used her artwork to doc lots of her fallen pals, together with the late Ahmad Abu Al-Roos, a journalist who was killed by Israeli forces in January.
In a Fb put up from 15 January, that includes a photograph of her handing Al-Roos his portrait, she paid homage to him. “Could God have mercy on you Ahmed, you had been the very best good friend that God witnesses, you all the time advised me that I’ll see you, the very best painter from Gaza, so that you left Ahmed earlier than I noticed my dream. I swear it is too early, my good friend.”
Additionally featured on her Fb web page are drawings of Khaled Nabhan, who grew to become extensively identified after a video circulated exhibiting him grieving two of his grandchildren, who had been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Deir al Balah in November 2023. He himself was killed in December 2024 when the IDF bombed the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Dina’s Fb web page, which has now change into a digital shrine of types, is a testomony to her pleasure for all times, full of images of her portraits of pals, and her volunteer work with orphans. Her final put up, from 12 April, options images of her sitting serenely at a seaside café. In it she wrote: “it’s all about tenderness”.
The Gazan artist Malak Mattar, who’s just some years older than Dina, tells The Artwork Newspaper that charcoal and graphite drawings are well-liked in Gaza and that many younger folks enroll in programs to learn to draw their households and pals.
“As a younger artist from Gaza, it’s painful to see fellow artists and colleagues principally being written about and recognised after their homicide,” she says. “Artists in Gaza deserve justice, safety, and recognition of their lifetime—as true warriors and witnesses of [this] horrific genocide.”
Greater than 50,933 folks have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its marketing campaign to eradicate Hamas, based on the native well being ministry. This marketing campaign started following the 7 October 2023 assault by Hamas, throughout which round 1,200 Israelis had been killed and round 250 taken hostage, based on Israeli tallies. Israeli officers have stated that they imagine 24 of the 59 remaining hostages are nonetheless alive.
The battle resumed on 18 March—following a two-month ceasefire—after Israel launched shock bombardments throughout Gaza.
